Farmgate prices up 6.0% in August

Farmgate prices in Hungary were up 6.0% year-on-year in August 2018, with crop prices rising and pork prices plummeting, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Friday, Hungarian news agency MTI reports.

The price of live animals and animal products fell 2.1%, however crop prices were up 11%.

Grain prices were up 14% with the price of maize up 13% and wheat prices rising 15%. Fruit prices were down 0.8% as prices of apples and plums were down 20% and 37%, respectively. Peach prices in contrast were up 51%. The price of vegetables was up by 22% and tomato prices rose by 23%.

Prices of live animals were down 3.6% as pork prices dropped 9.7%.

In January-August, farmgate prices increased 1.7% year-on-year as crop prices rose 3.9% and the price of livestock and animal products was down 1.9%.

In the first eight months vegetable prices were up 7.9% and fruit prices were down 8.7% compared to the same period a year earlier. The price of pork fell 12%. The price of milk rose 2.0% and egg prices climbed 10%.

The introduction of a new state support measure may result in increased activity on the agricultural machinery market, as well as a more lively leasing market and more modern machine fleets at market players, says a press release from the Hungarian Leasing Association.

Real estate prices are set to rise in every category in the next 12 months in Hungary, with prices of resale homes rising the most, economic research institute GKI said on Wednesday based on its representative survey conducted in April.

T-Systems Hungary, Kitchen Budapest (KiBu), and the University of Szeged organized a 24-hour IoT Hackathon in Szeged on April 26-27, with an agrarian solution against codling moths, a major pest, triumphing at the end of the event.

In the capital, the highest number of new apartments last year was built in District 9, followed by Districts 11 and 12, and yet the highest prices per square meter for new homes are found elsewhere, according to Duna House Barometer.

There were 653 homes built in the city of Győr (121 kilometers northwest of Budapest) in 2018, the most in any city outside of the capital, according to property market data compiled by the Central Statistical Office (KSH).

Home prices in Hungary rose at a slower rate in the fourth quarter of 2018, while the gap between prices in large and small settlements continued to widen, the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) said in a quarterly report published on its website mnb.hu.

While it is still April, a number of farmers in the Alföld (Great Plain) region have begun the irrigation of the wheat crop already, due to the drought that has been going on for months and which may result in a significant hit to revenues, with an expected 15% lower crop yield.